I think I’ve seen a reality show on just about everything from how to land a girl, eat a bucket of bugs, pick a husband, or even how to get some manners in “Charm School”. I often wonder how far will this genre go? A few years back they tried to forecast that it would just burn itself out. But honestly, not without a fight. The networks just come up with some other crazy altered reality concept. Summer and February seem to be the times with the biggest boost for the genre, especially since we all have seen our favorite shows a quadrillion times already. Millions of fans watch reality TV and post about it on their social media. You really can’t ignore the marketing and powerful social media implications that surround it.
In some ways, reality TV has replaced the typical soap operas. VH1 and MTV shows are almost totally scripted, and every reality show has to have some sort of production set up. But for the majority of reality shows, the characters are encouraged to be themselves. The more realistic the show, the more legs it seems to have. These shows are extremely entertaining because the producers cut-out all the boring moments and the cast’s down-time. It’s like real-life drama in hyperdrive. Reality TV is more real than real life because, on TV, you are forced to open up to hard emotional questions and take action. Hiding your true intentions may be what usually happens in real life, but expressing yourself openly as people do on TV is what real reality is all about.
One way to see if it’s really making a deep impression on our culture is to see how many kids will dress like their favorite reality TV star this Halloween. I truly think people have been entertained and attracted to the same basic things for hundreds of years. They sometimes just like to see the dirt that so many try to cover up. They like to see how human we can be behind closed doors.
